What I've learned about myself

I've been reviewing the first quarter of the year this week, reviewing goals and plans for the year, measuring where we are and where we'd like to be. It brought to mind something the Lord has really been working with me on - stewardship of MYSELF. What I've learned is my love for working in service to the Lord sometimes overwhelms my body's ability to endure. More rest is needed for me - my wife will tell you that with certainty. We've had the busiest, craziest year of our lives - in a good way, mostly - since Jan 1st. But it's caused to come to terms with how I practice stewardship over myself.
- If I don't practice stewardship over myself, I'll be no good to my beloved church when they need me.
- If I don't practice stewardship over myself, I've got nothing to say when Sunday arrives. Is it just me or do Sundays come really quickly?!
- If I don't practice stewardship over myself, I'll come to a place where I don't love the service to the Lord as much as I endure it. That's NOT who I want to be.

So what's my plan?
(1) Carve out some time daily to do something that creates passion within me - textual criticism. More on that later.
(2) Energize myself with conferences that feed my desire for obedience - I'm headed to New Orleans next Friday and Sat for just such a conference. It's a conference on textual criticism.
(3) Take my day off seriously. I need it to make sure my heart is ready for Sunday.
(4) Take my vacation when it comes time. What I've learned about myself is that I do best when I take two consecutive weeks out and two consecutive Sundays off. It takes me three to four days to sort of "come down". We'll be taking a trip later in the year (I don't normally announce when I'll be gone since people often see that as an invitation to stay home!).
(5) Do more leadership development, training others to step into roles God has designed for them.

There you have it - be assured I'll keep you posted about my progress.

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